Wednesday, we attended an exhibition entitled Machu Pichu at the Boca Museum of Art. It was wonderful and most enlightening. There was also a virtual segment similar to that of Disney in Soarin', as one 'flew' over the beautiful Machu Pichu. Even more fascinating was to see and understand the comprehension of these 'primitive' people of the world, its interlaced reality, far better than we have today, with all our advanced learning and technology. Today we continue to have deniers of that reality, much to our dismay and danger.
Primitive by todays' terms, with monsters and gods abounding, the Incas did understand the necessary interactions of parts of Nature with the other parts. They understood the cycles and how to prepare for them, both in prayer and sacrifices as well as in actual constructions and planning, much of it simply amazing. On a vast mountain hidden in the clouds, a world was built based on that comprehension. It flourished until the invasion of the Spanish Conquistadors, condemning them to centuries of enslavement, decimation and ongoing grinding poverty. And through the centuries it slept, a secret, kept by the local indigenous people until the nineteenth century. It continues to amaze and astound as technology allows us to see beneath the covering earth.
The Incas understood within the very marrow of their bones that all Nature is related. What happens in one sphere affects another. Be it the rain cycle, the Sun or the Moon beclouded, the desert land growing, or the value, importance and magnificence of the ocean and all it provides. So, they took care of it. They honored it. They sacrificed to it and for it. They enriched it with their blood. They gave their best to it.
They built an advanced civilization with a huge highway allowing for commerce to expand, rules for society, art and culture, alliances to keep the peace, prepared for all possibilities until the unthinkable. The Spanish came along with their modern weapons, their greed and their overwhelming numbers. Within a few years, a population of almost 6 million was halved -and ongoing. For centuries until present days.
We were taught in school that the Conquistadores represented modernity, a blessing for these poor souls whose hearts were removed at a sacrificial altar. We were taught they had no true society, oppressed the people of that 'non-existent ' or valueless society. They should have blessed their conquerors, even as they were enslaved, killed, denied, and demoted from advanced understandings, a strong society, to a mess.
Today, millennia later, we continue to remain ignorant of what the Incas knew, felt in their innards, as they lived in close cooperation with Nature. Yes, they pulled hearts, but for the most, these hearts were given willingly, joyously even in religious devotion as the TOP ranks gave of themselves in order to keep ALL of society whole. It slaked the needs of the Earth, of the gods, of the animals, of the people around them.
Their intricate amazingly detailed metalwork and their ceramics reflected these values. They understood the need for procreation, in both man and god, and the everlasting cycles between all of the facets of Nature. How many more years, centuries even, did it take for us to comprehend that simple fact, those obvious relationships? Have we even completed that understanding what with the deniers who persist in their ignorance, their negligence, their abuse of Nature?
No, I have no desire to move into a house among the Incas, but perhaps we can learn from them, take from them what we are first beginning to understand. We can admire the beauty of their art, their lack of greed, for gold and silver were seen merely as components of jewelry, as gifts to the gods, while the Spanish saw these metals as wealth, to be sought rapaciously, steamrolling over all native populations who stood in their way. Who threw away all the vast knowledges of these peoples.
Now the funny part. I am, was, truly inspired by all we saw and read, by the book I purchased for more knowledge. By my purchase in the gift shop of beautiful woven coasters- and no, not made in China! Made by modern day descendants of that ancient proud civilization of the Incas. I thought of how this might be portrayed in paint, catch its spirit and beauty. Do I dare attempt this? Time will tell.
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